plasma-physics
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The Fusion Bet That Looks Like a Barbell, Not a Donut
Most fusion companies bend plasma into a ring. Realta Fusion is betting that a straight magnetic bottle - built for industrial heat first - can make the economics less contorted.
TAU Systems
TAU Systems is a deep-tech company commercializing the first compact, laser-driven particle accelerators and specialized X-ray free-electron lasers. By replacing miles of conventional accelerator with millimeters of laser-driven plasma, TAU shrinks billion-dollar, kilometer-long machines down to a room-sized footprint - and rents beam time to industry and academia. Spun out of the University of Texas at Austin in 2021 by physicist Bjorn Manuel Hegelich, the company builds application centers (TAU Labs) so semiconductor, battery, medical, and space-electronics researchers can access accelerator-grade light and particle beams without waiting years for a slot at a national facility.